Chapter VIII
The Last Days of a King
1108 AD - 1116 AD
The 1st Scottish War began in February of 1108 AD, and was one of the most hard fought wars of King Thored Leofricson's reign. You see, King Malcolm had developed an unnatural hatred for England after Cumberland was taken by Morcar Leofricson, and this hatred had transferred to his son. This hatred drove King Duncan of Scotland to almost immediately declare war upon the death of Archbishop Diego Fabrotta. However, in order to understand the war, one must look upon the events leading up to his death, and indeed the event that caused it, in order to truly understand the origins of the conflict.
In the year 1107 AD, Archbishop Fabrotta had been appointed as the Diocese Bishop of Scotland. To most, this seemed normal, but in truth this was the result of a long attempt to oust the former Archbishop from Scotland. Archbishop Vidone Berta had been attempting for several years to expand the power of the Church in Scotland, even bribing Counts and Dukes with promises of gold. It was suspected that the Catholic Church had even had a hand in inciting Pro-Church Rebellions. This tension between the Catholic Church and Scotland came to a head when it was revealed that Archbishop Berta had been secretly funding the Silver Hands, a group whom had been actively seeking out Scottish nobility for sins they had committed and murdering them.
With this revelation at Scottish Court, King Duncan ordered the Archbishop Berta be arrested, and then spent three months attempting to negotiate with the Pope before installing his own Diocese Bishop, Diego Fabrotta. The Pope refused to accept this, and England backed the Church against Scotland. But while King Thored expected the Pope to hold off on any aggressive movements until his conflict with Leinster was resolved, the Pope sent weapons to the Silver Hands in exchange for the assassination of Archbishop Fabrotta. After he was found dead, Scotland immediately moved to assault England, knowing that Thored would back the Pope and thinking that this was his chance to strike out and force the English to back down before Thored was able to mount a significant defense.
However, this turned out to be a mistake for Scotland, as Thored had already mobilized most his army to march into Ireland to deal with the Duchy of Leinster, who had attacked one of Thored's vassals, and most of his soldiers were waiting to board boats in Cumberland. They boarded the boats, but with an alternative destination, soon landing in Galloway. King Thored lead his army north into Galloway, and after defeating 800 men with his rallied 4,000 Men, he laid siege to Galloway, taking the Duke of Galloway's titles before the end of May.
Yet this fortune would not last for long, as after the Battle of Laigin in July, in which forces from Southern England attacked the Duchy of Leinster, King Duncan laid siege to Leowic and took control of the city, with King Thored being distracted by a battle in Cumberland against Count Gospatrick.
After claiming victory against Count Gospatrick, King Thored marched immediately to Leowic with much urgency. He was met by King Duncan near the city, with King Duncan not wanting his "prize" to be harmed in the battle. It was a very evenly matched battle, with King Thored only having the superiority of a few hundred men. However, King Duncan's army was made up of a large contingent of Gall-òglaich Mercenaries, elite Nordic Mercenaries renowned for their skill and loyalty.
The battle, known as the Battle of Two Kings, is a very well known part of English history, and is often studied as one of the last "Classic Saxon" battles, due to the reforms instituted by King Ealdred, whom had not yet been crowned and at this time was still in service to the Varangian Guard, a little more then ten years later.
The Battle of Two Kings
The Battle of Two Kings lasted a little over two days in it's entirety, taking place in a variety of locations before King Thored finally achieved a victory and Duncan was forced to flee north with a fractured army. Count Gospatrick, having built up an army, assaulted King Thored in late September. Thored again achieved victory, and retook the city of Leowic. However, Galloway was recaptured by King Duncan, who had amassed a new army, and the two Kings marched again to battle, both with enlargened armies.
But King Thored still had a trick up his sleeve. You see, a marriage pact had been organized between Yevstafii the Conqueror, King of Finland, and King Thored Leofricson, at Yevstafii's coronation. A daughter of Thored named Aethelswyth was to be married to Danilo Rurikovich, eldest son of Yevstafii, upon her coming of age, and one of Yevstafii's daughters was to similarly be married to Ealdred upon his return to England. When Aethelswyth came of age, however, Leowic was under occupation and she was a prisoner of King Duncan.
In early December, Danilo Rurikovich arrived with an army of 4,000 on the shores of England, and joined King Thored, knowing that King Duncan was coming with a larger army then previous to retake Leowic. However, when King Duncan was met by both armies, he was suprised, and Danilo and Thored managed to back him down and force a peace treaty. Danilo and Aethelswyth were then married, and he returned to Finland.
Afterward, Thored went to Leinster to finish off the Irish resistance there, who had been fighting a guerilla campaign against the occupying troops. The Duke of Leinster was captured, and forced to declare vassalage to the Kingdom of England. However, the 1st War of Galloway wasn't over yet.
Only a month after the 1st Crusade ended in November of 1109 AD, the County of Leicester revolted against Thored with Scottish funding, with the funding enflaming already tense relations. However, this proved to simply be a desperate attempt by a desperate King, as the Count of Leicester surrendered his titles to King Thored in April of 1110 AD.
Now with the Scottish War at an end, things were mostly peaceful. In January of 1111 AD, the construction of a Castle was completed in Durham, meaning that all of the King's Demense was now fortified by Castles, making England the most heavily fortified nation in western Europe. While the Saxons had now quickly adopted Norman customs or even their language, they had adopted their Castles.
In September of 1112 AD, the 2nd Crusade began, with the intent of conquering Tunis. However, King Thored did not join, stating that he did not wish to fight in any other Crusades after his first disastrous attempt. However, a great game of espionage began between England and Denmark in 1115 AD, being well chronicled due to the war that later came of it.
Adelaide Leofricson was married to Valdemar Knytling in October of 1115. Valdemar Knytling was one of Inge Knytling's, the King of Denmark, brothers, and was third in line to the throne. However, the marriage always had sinister purposes, with a deal having been arranged between Valdemar and Thored, though it's exact terms are lost to history.
King Thored did not wait long before acting, having Erik Knytling, heir to the Kingship of Denmark and 2nd eldest brother to the sonless King Gustav, assassinated. Yet King Gustav was not nearly as unsuspecting as King Thored had hoped, having assassins murder Harold Leofricson, King Thored's youngest son.
While Thored's did not immediately answer, fearing an escalation into war with Denmark, he did discreetly send mercenaries to raid the Danish coast. It wasn't long after that Thored Leofricson declared war on the newly independent County of Carrick, and the battle begun not long after.
The Battle of Carrick began on the 19th of April, 1116 AD, with Thored having around 2,500 soldiers to face the unexpectedly larger army of 3,000 Scottish men, many of whom were already experienced from their war of independence with the King of Scotland.
Ealdred on the 27th of April in England, with the Battle of Carrick still raging to the north. The battle ended on the 6th of May, with Thored winning against the Scots. However, he was forced to leave his army to their siege to return to Leowic, having been badly wounded in the battle.
Carrick was taken in June and integrated into the Royal Demense, but much of the Kingdom's attention had already become concentrated on the dying King, and the marriage that was already being prepared between Ealdred and Anastasia Rurikovich, who had arrived with her Father in July.
Thored's final act as King was to see the assassination of the King of Denmark, Gustav Knytling, and the inheritance of Valdemar Knytling to be King of Denmark, but the assassin was captured after he completed his mission, which would cause problems in the years to come for England. The ascension of Valdemar Knytling saw the birth of the House Knytfric, though the house would not survive for long.
Coat of Arms of the House Knytfric
On the 27th of October, 1116 AD, King Thored Leofricson died of his wounds, and was inherited by Ealdred. The next day, King Ealdred was married to Anastasia Rurikovich. Now, an era had ended, and a new generation had arrived.